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The Court of First Instance today (Thursday) ruled that the qualifying period of seven years' ordinary residence for an applicant of permanent residence must be immediately before the date of his application.

The Immigration Ordinance stipulates that for a person not of Chinese nationality to be eligible for right of abode (ROA), he must enter Hong Kong with a valid travel document, have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than seven years, and have taken Hong Kong as a permanent residence.

In passing its judgement on the "Fateh Muhammad" case, the court upheld these provisions in the Immigration Ordinance to be consistent with the Basic Law and are constitutional.

A Government spokesman said the Administration was pleased with the ruling.

Fateh Muhammad faced a deportation order following a period of imprisonment for a criminal offence. He appealed to the Registration of Persons (ROP) Tribunal on the grounds that he was a permanent resident under Basic Law 24(2)(4) and therefore not subject to deportation.

He claimed to have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for many years prior to his conviction. However, his imprisonment broke the period of ordinary residence immediately preceding his application for ROA.

On 29 January 1999, the Tribunal allowed his appeal mainly on the grounds that under Basic Law 24(2)(4), the continuous period of seven years' ordinary residence did not have to immediately precede the date of an application for ROA. The Director of Immigration applied for a judicial review.

The Court of First Instance heard the case on 9, 10 and 11 June, and gave its judgment today in favour of the Government.

Mr Muhammad had earlier applied for judicial review of the deportation order on the grounds of, amongst other things, his claim that he had right of abode by virtue of his lengthy residence in Hong Kong since 1962.

The deportation order was subsequently rescinded after the ROP Tribunal ruled that he enjoyed the right of abode.

End/Thursday, June 24, 1999

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